Friends and Family is PayPal's way of sending money to someone when it is not a purchase. Inside your own country it is often free; as soon as the money crosses a border two costs appear, and the less visible one, the currency spread, is usually the big one.
From a US account
PayPal's US consumer fee table (last updated 19 May 2026):
- Domestic: free from your balance or bank; by card, 2.9% + $0.30.
- International: the applicable domestic fee plus 5% of the amount, with a minimum of $0.99 and a maximum of $4.99.
- If the recipient receives another currency: a 4% currency conversion spread.
- Receiving: no fee when no currency conversion is involved.
- Card fee
- Cross-border
- Conversion
- Payout
| You send | International fee | Conversion (4%) | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100.00 | $4.99 | $4.00 | $8.99 (8.99%) |
| $500.00 | $4.99 | $20.00 | $24.99 (5%) |
| $1,000.00 | $4.99 | $40.00 | $44.99 (4.5%) |
The international fee stops at $4.99 from about $100, but the conversion has no cap. On $1,000 arriving as euros you pay $44.99, and $40.00 of it is the currency spread. Paid by card, add another $29.30.
Friends and Family fee calculator (US account)
From a eurozone account (Spain)
PayPal's fee table for Spain (last updated 7 September 2026) is simpler:
- Inside Spain, same currency: no fee.
- Abroad: a flat €1.99 if the recipient is in Canada, the US or most of Europe, and €3.99 for anywhere else.
- If the recipient receives another currency, PayPal converts at its own rate, which includes a spread over the base rate; the details are in its user agreement, and for converting a business balance it publishes 3%.
A flat fee is little on a large transfer. The spread is not: on €1,000 arriving as dollars, every point of spread is €10.
Why the spread is the real cost
The fees are on the send screen; the spread is hidden in the exchange rate PayPal shows you. Compare that rate with the mid-market rate on Google or Reuters at the same moment and you will see the gap. A service that converts at the mid-market rate with a published fee usually costs a fraction on transfers of hundreds or thousands; check its quote before you send.
Friends and Family is not for getting paid for work
PayPal defines these as personal transactions: no purchase of goods or services behind them. Two consequences:
- No buyer protection. If you pay for something through Friends and Family and it never arrives, PayPal does not cover you.
- It is not a way to bill clients. If you freelance, a client who pays you this way to dodge the fee leaves you both unprotected and outside what PayPal's terms allow. A commercial $1,000 payment from a US client into a Spanish account costs $77.77 on PayPal; a transfer to local bank details costs far less, as shown in card or bank transfer.
How to pay less when sending to family
- Pay from your balance or bank, not a card. From the US, a card adds 2.9% plus the fixed fee.
- Send less often, in larger amounts. A flat or capped fee weighs less.
- Watch the exchange rate, not just the fee: that is where most of the money goes.
- For large amounts, compare with a service that converts at the mid-market rate.
Sources: PayPal's US and Spain consumer fee tables, checked on 25 October 2026. PayPal can change them; the binding figure is the one it shows you before you confirm the payment.
Every figure in this guide is calculated from the providers' public pricing pages, with the same function as the calculator. See the methodology for what the model includes and leaves out.